Device for stacking egg-trays

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device for handling mainly flat objects, which device has a supply belt, a swinging member for lifting an edge of a flat object protruding from the output end of the supply belt to inverse said object, a swingable flap for receiving the objects and bringing them into a standing position unto a transport belt, as well as means for backing the object for preventing it from falling back when moved unto said transport belt.

United Mates Patent Inventor Jacob H. Mosterd c/o Apparatenbouw MOBAN.V.. Stationsweg 117, Barneveld, Netherlands App]v No. 814,369 FiledApr. 8, 1969 Patented July 6, 1971 Priority Apr. 8, 1968 Netherlands68/049631 DEVECE IFQR STACKING EGG-TRAYS 6 (Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

int. Cl 1365b 3/30 Field of Search 198/27, 33

1 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,184,032 5/1965 Jonsson v.198/27 3,3 75,941 4/1968 Repper 198/27 Primary Examiner-Richard E.Aegerter Attorney-William J. Daniel ABSTRACT: The invention relates to adevice for handling mainly flat objects, which device has a supply belt,a swinging member for lifting an edge of a flat object protruding fromthe output end of the supply belt to inverse said object, a swingableflap for receiving the objects and bringing them into a standingposition unto a transport belt, as well as means for backing the objectfor preventing it from falling back when moved unto said transport belt.

PATENTEU JUL 6 i971 SHEET 1. OF 4 PATENTEU JUL 6197i SHEET 3 BF 4PATENTED JUL 6 I97! 3; 590,972 sum u or 4 DEVICE FOR STACKING EGG-TRAYSThe invention relates to a device for stacking objects, which mainly arefiat, like egg-trays, in the following to be mentioned trays, providedwith a driven supply-belt which belt is provided with members for takingalong the trays.

Especially with automatic machines for handling eggs, e.g. the sortingthereof, the problem occurs, that the eggs are supplied on egg-trays,and that one has to see to an as much as possible automatic removal ofthese trays. Said egg trays are relatively large and consequently it isdesired that such a device is as compact as possible and takes up littleroom.

A further important desire is, that the egg-trays are reversed, beforebeing removed, so that they drop the dirt present on their upper sides.This is an important advantage when the trays are used again.

The invention provides a simple and, as experience has shown, reliabledevice, complying with the above mentioned desires.

Accordingly it is provided according to the invention that at the outputend of the supply belt a pivotable taking over member has been mounted,which is connected with a driving mechanism that has been coupled withthe movement of the supply belt and has been arranged to enforce a pivotmovement to the taking over member, owing to which it grips the underside of the leading portion of a tray protruding outside the outlet endof the supply belt and swings upwardly for lifting the leading portionof the tray and to free the tray from the supply belt, with which theend portion of the tray swings downwardly and furtheron.

It is desired to give the downwardly inclined trays an exact location.Moreover it is advantageous to bring them into a vertical position inorder to limit the length of the machine.

Accordingly it is provided according to the invention that a receivingflap is present, which flap can be swung to and fro and can swingbetween a position in which its end edge is near the output end of thesupply belt and a second position, in which its end edge is positionedfurther away from the said output end and is higher than in the firstposition, which flap cooperates with a driving mechanism which has alsobeen coupled with the movement of the supply belt, which drivingmechanism allows the flap to carry out the movement from the first untothe second position, after the taking over member has been swungupwardly,

With this the trays are canted by which they take up only little room.In order to further automatize the removal it is provided according to afurther elaboration of the invention, that a transport belt is providedhaving vertical stop members, which take over the tray in a verticalposition from the flap, after the tray has been swung upwardly away fromthe supply beltv Because the tray when applying the invention carriesout a rather free swinging movement the possibility exists that it ise.g. caught a little bit too long by the taking along member and thisdisturbs the good working. It is also possible, when a flap that can beswung upwardly is used, that the tray will not remain standing in thevertical position.

These two possibilities of interruptions are removed according to afurther elaboration of the invention, in that a stop member is present,which is connected with a driving mechanism coupled to the supply belt,which driving mechanism can swing the stop member from a first positioninto a second position, being nearer to the supply belt, said drivingmechanism carrying out the movement from the first position into asecond position in the course of time in which the flap swings the trayupwardly, while the stop member moves along the upper side of the trayfor immediately hereafter moving back in order to stop the tray fromfalling back.

In order to control at the same time the swinging movement of the traywhen it is lifted by the taking along member, the stop member preferablyhas a portion lying in said first position in the path of the endportion of a tray, when this, after having been freed from the supplybelt, swings downwardly and swings furtheron.

A further elaboration of the invention consists in that the transportbelt is provided with a stepwise working driving and in that the supplybelt contains a counter, which, after counting a predetermined number oftrays, operates the driving of the transport belt for moving said beltforwardly over a step, in which way it is possible to remove the traysin stacks of a predetermined number and vertically canted, so that theytake up as little room as possible.

The invention is in the following further elucidated on hand of theschematical drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a view of a device according to the invention in a firstposition;

FIG. 2 shows the same device in a following position;

FIG. 3 shows the same in still another position; and

FIG. 4 shows still another position of the same device.

In the drawing 1 indicates a transport belt which is driven in thedirection of the arrow 2, which driving preferably is continuously. Thetransport belt 1 is provided with taking along members for egg-trays 4.

At the end of the transport belt a L-shaped lever 5 is present whichbears a rod or arm 6 perpendicular to the plane of drawing, which rodserves to support the leading end of the tray until the trailing endthereof clears the end of belt 1 and is free to tumble downwardly whilethe leading end thereof remains supported by rod 6. The L-shaped lever 5has a fixed pivot point at 7 and runs with a follower roll 8 on a cam 9,which is driven in the direction of the arrow 10. The shaft 11 of saidcam 9 has been coupled with belt 1 such, that the cam carries out acomplete revolution when the belt covers the distance between twosucceeding taking along members 3.

Further a pivotable guide-flap 12 has been mounted, which can pivotabout a permanent shaft 13. With said flap a coupling rod 14 has beencoupled which by means of a pivot 15 is connected with a swinging arm16, which bears a cam follower roll 17, running on a cam 18. A furthercam 20 is attached to the shaft 19 of said cam. The shaft 19 has beencoupled with the driving of the belt 1 such, that it makes onerevolution when this belt covers the distance between two taking alongmembers 3. This means in other words that the shafts 11 and 19 have beencoupled with each other, such that they rotate identically.

On cam 20 a follower 21 runs, which is attached to the end of a bent arm22, which at 23 has a fixed pivot. At the end of arm 22 a short traversearm 24 is present having upwardly inclined support fingers 24'.

Further a transport belt 25 is present bearing protruding baffles orprops 26 perpendicular to the main plane of the belt 25. Belt 25 runsalong a driving wheel (not shown) with the shaft 27. On said shaft apawlwheel 28 has been mounted, which is stopped by a pawl 29, which ispivotably attached at 30 and is connected with an electromagnet 32 bymeans of a coupling rod 31. Said electromagnet is controlled by anelectric contact 33 (above to the left in FIG. 1), which cooperates witha pawlwheel 34, having 14 teeth. Said pawlwheel is stepped one toothfurther every time so that pawl 35 after being fallen into theinterspace between two succeeding trays 4, is again pushed on by thenext tray.

The working of the device as described is as follows.

In the position of FIG. 1 the swinging arm 5 with the taking alongmember 6 attached thereto is, because of the shape of the cam 9, at thebeginning of a swinging movement to the right. When said movement startsthe taking along member 6 grips the leading portion of the tray 4 at itslower side and swings it upwardly, with which the tray is released fromthe taking along member 3. Owing to the shape of the cam 18 arm 16swings to the left and by this flap 12 swings also to the left. The stopmember 24 moves somewhat further on to the right.

The next stage has been shown in FIG. 2, where the tray with its frontside has been lifted so far, that the back side slides free of thebelt 1. By this the tray swings in the reversed direction with which it,if necessary, is stopped by the left finger 24 of the stop member 24.After that the tray falls reversedly on to the sloping flap 12, which inthe mean time has swung to the left with respect to the position of FIG.1.

Thereupon said flap swings to the right owing to the movement of the cam18 and the tray comes into the position shown in FIG. 3. At this momentthe cam 20 has a strongly rising portion, which cooperates with thefollower roll 21, so that the stop member 24 swings to the left, justalong the upper rim of the tray 4. Shortly after that the stop memberswings again to the right in order to then support and stabilize thetray 4 from behind (which tray in the mean time has been swung furtheron by the flap 12), and to prevent the tray from falling back, when flap12 again swings to the left. This position is shown in FIG. 4.

With the swinging movement of the flap 12 from the position of FIG. 2 tothat of FIG. 3 it moves along a supporting plate 36, which is providedwith a recess for allowing the passage of the partitions 26.

It will be clear, that the cams, like 9, l8 and 20, are positionedoutside the paths of the transport belts l and 25 and that it can beadvantageous to mount on both sides of said belts a pair of such cams.

When a tray 4 passes the pawlwheel 34 is move every time a positionfurther on in the direction ofthe arrow. When pin 37 cooperates with theswitch 33, this is closed. This switch has been included in the feedingcircuit of the electromagnet 32, owing to which the latter releases thepawlwheel 28. This is driven by a friction coupling (not shown) thedriving side of which has been coupled with the movement of the belt 1.Therewith belt 25 shifts further on along a distance corresponding withthe distance between two succeeding partitions 26. Between two of suchpartitions as many trays 4 are present in a vertical position then, asthe pawlwheel 34 has teeth. The unit 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 forms a counterand it will be clear that every other suitable counter can replace thisunit.

lclaim:

1. Apparatus for at least substantially inverting generally flattraylike articles comprising:

1. A delivery conveyor ll advancing said articles 4 in succession one byone along a predetermined path to a predetermined transfer point at theend of said conveyor;

. A receiving conveyor 25 disposed generally parallel to and below saiddelivery conveyor for receiving the articles from said deliveryconveyor, said receiving conveyor beginning at least adjacent saidtransfer point; and

3. A mechanism for transferring said articles from said first to saidsecond conveyors while simultaneously substantially inverting the same,which comprises:

a. a front end support arm 5,6 for engaging the leading end of said eacharticle .in turn as the same leaves the end of said delivery conveyor atsaid transfer point, said arm being movable from a position proximatesaid transfer point to a position sufficiently spaced therefromgenerally in the direction of advance of said articles that the trailingend of the article clears the delivery conveyor while the leading end issupported by said support arm;

b. Means 8,9 for moving said support arm 5,6 to and fro between saidpositions in timed relation to the arrival of said articles at saidtransfer point, and

c. A guide flap (12) disposed generally obliquely between the twoconveyors at said transfer point with the lower end thereof extendingadjacent said second conveyor, said guide flap directing the initiallytrailing end of the article, upon release thereof from said firstconveyor, onto said second conveyor while the initially leading endremains supported by said support arm (5,6) until said ends aresubstantially reversed, whereby said articles are received on saidsecond conveyor in reversed endwise relation.

2. The apparatus of claim t wherein said delivery conveyor comprises anendless belt having cleats at spaced points therealong for engaging eachof said article intermediate its ends and the second position of saidsupport arm is also spaced above the path of said first conveyor todisengage said articles from the corresponding cleat.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said articles are stacked ingenerally angular relation on said second conveyor and said guide flapis pivotable about its lower end, and including means for swinging saidguide flap about the lower end thereof upwardly to orient in saidangular relation to said second conveyor the new trailing end of thearticle after release thereof from said support arm 5,6.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said receiving conveyor is anendless conveyor and includes at spaced points therealong upstandingprops 26 to maintain groups of said articles in said stacked angularrelation.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including intermittently operating drivemeans 27,28,29 for said receiving conveyor, and counting means 3334,3537associated with said delivery conveyor for counting the number ofarticles delivered thereby, said counting means actuating saidintermittent drive means to advance said receiving conveyor to receive afresh group of said articles after a predetermined number of articlesconstituting one group has been counted by said counting means.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 including a stabilizing backstop 24 movablebetween an operative position supporting the upper end of an articleafter delivery thereof in angular relation on said receiving conveyor bysaid guide flap to an inoperative position spaced clear of said articleupper end to permit a further article to be delivered into place, and adrive for moving said backstop 24 between said positions in timedrelation to the swinging movement of said guide flap.

1. Apparatus for at least substantially inverting generally flattraylike articles comprising:
 1. A delivery conveyor 1 advancing saidarticles 4 in succession one by one along a predetermined path to apredetermined transfer point at the end of said conveyor;
 2. A receivingconveyor 25 disposed generally parallel to and below said deliveryconveyor for receiving the articles from said delivery conveyor, saidreceiving conveyor beginning at least adjacent said transfer point; and3. A mechanism for transferring said articles from said first to saidsecond conveyors while simultaneously substantially inverting the same,which comprises: a. a front end support arm 5,6 for engaging the leadingend of said each article in turn as the same leaves the end of saiddelivery conveyor at said tRansfer point, said arm being movable from aposition proximate said transfer point to a position sufficiently spacedtherefrom generally in the direction of advance of said articles thatthe trailing end of the article clears the delivery conveyor while theleading end is supported by said support arm; b. Means 8,9 for movingsaid support arm 5,6 to and fro between said positions in timed relationto the arrival of said articles at said transfer point, and c. A guideflap (12) disposed generally obliquely between the two conveyors at saidtransfer point with the lower end thereof extending adjacent said secondconveyor, said guide flap directing the initially trailing end of thearticle, upon release thereof from said first conveyor, onto said secondconveyor while the initially leading end remains supported by saidsupport arm (5,6) until said ends are substantially reversed, wherebysaid articles are received on said second conveyor in reversed endwiserelation.
 2. A receiving conveyor 25 disposed generally parallel to andbelow said delivery conveyor for receiving the articles from saiddelivery conveyor, said receiving conveyor beginning at least adjacentsaid transfer point; and
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saiddelivery conveyor comprises an endless belt having cleats at spacedpoints therealong for engaging each of said article intermediate itsends and the second position of said support arm is also spaced abovethe path of said first conveyor to disengage said articles from thecorresponding cleat.
 3. A mechanism for transferring said articles fromsaid first to said second conveyors while simultaneously substantiallyinverting the same, which comprises: a. a front end support arm 5,6 forengaging the leading end of said each article in turn as the same leavesthe end of said delivery conveyor at said tRansfer point, said arm beingmovable from a position proximate said transfer point to a positionsufficiently spaced therefrom generally in the direction of advance ofsaid articles that the trailing end of the article clears the deliveryconveyor while the leading end is supported by said support arm; b.Means 8,9 for moving said support arm 5,6 to and fro between saidpositions in timed relation to the arrival of said articles at saidtransfer point, and c. A guide flap (12) disposed generally obliquelybetween the two conveyors at said transfer point with the lower endthereof extending adjacent said second conveyor, said guide flapdirecting the initially trailing end of the article, upon releasethereof from said first conveyor, onto said second conveyor while theinitially leading end remains supported by said support arm (5,6) untilsaid ends are substantially reversed, whereby said articles are receivedon said second conveyor in reversed endwise relation.
 3. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein said articles are stacked in generally angularrelation on said second conveyor and said guide flap is pivotable aboutits lower end, and including means for swinging said guide flap aboutthe lower end thereof upwardly to orient in said angular relation tosaid second conveyor the new trailing end of the article after releasethereof from said support arm 5,6.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 whereinsaid receiving conveyor is an endless conveyor and includes at spacedpoints therealong upstanding props 26 to maintain groups of saidarticles in said stacked angular relation.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4including intermittently operating drive means 27,28,29 for saidreceiving conveyor, and counting means 33,34,35,37 associated with saiddelivery conveyor for counting the number of articles delivered thereby,said counting means actuating said intermittent drive means to advancesaid receiving conveyor to receive a fresh group of said articles aftera predetermined number of articles constituting one group has beencounted by said counting means.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3 including astabilizing backstop 24 movable between an operative position supportingthe upper end of an article after delivery thereof in angular relationon said receiving conveyor by said guide flap to an inoperative positionspaced clear of said article upper end to permit a further article to bedelivered into place, and a drive for moving said backstop 24 betweensaid positions in timed relation to the swinging movement of said guideflap.